This formative assessment item uncovers misconception and student ideas about classifications of mammals. It will uncover how students think when classifying animals. The probe is aligned to the National Science Education Standards. Information is provided for instructional suggestions and background information.

Ever seen a Mooselope? How about a Bighorn Bison? See what kinds of strange creatures you can make.It's good fun for everyone.

2.4 The student will investigate and understand that plants and animals undergo a series of orderly changes as they grow and develop. Key ideas includea) animals have life cycles This choice board helps students explore animal life cycles at his/her own pace. Students play an interactive hyper doc board game. This can be individual or whole class. It includes videos, online games, assessments, and is a lot of fun. Great way to engage any learner!  Get started with the center square and move around the board to learn more about life cycles. 

In this activity on page 1 of the PDF, learners compare the relative sizes of biological objects (like DNA and bacteria) that can't be seen by the naked eye. Learners will be surprised to discover the range of sizes in the microscopic world. This activity can be followed up with a second activity, "What's in a microbe?", located on page 3 in the same resource.

The Ancient Egyptians used a naturally-occurring salt from the banks of the Nile River, called natron, to mummify their dead. Natron is made up primarily of sodium carbonate (a very efficient, but relatively expensive, dehydrating material), with about 17% sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). This activity explains how to create your own fish mummy using common baking soda!

This article features children's literature about mammals and the mammals that live in the polar regions.

Meiosis is the process by which gametes (eggs and sperm) are made. Gametes have only one set of chromosomes. Therefore, meiosis involves a reduction in the amount of genetic material. Each gamete has only half the chromosomes of the original germ cell. Explore meiosis with a computer model of dragons. Run meiosis, inspect the chromosomes, then choose gametes to fertilize. Predict the results of the dragon offspring and try to make a dragon without legs. Learn why all siblings do not look alike.

 NASA eClips Real World:  The Carbon Cycle - Essential for Life on EarthVideo Description:  Carbon is an essential building block for life. Learning how carbon is converted through slow- and fast-moving cycles helps us understand how this life-sustaining element moves through the environment. Discover how NASA measures carbon through both field work and satellite imagery keeping watch through its eyes on the sky, on Earth, and in space.  This video won and Emmy Award in 2020.  Video Length:  5:43.NASA eClipsTM is a suite of online student-centered, standards-based resources that support instruction by increasing STEM literacy in formal and nonformal settings.  These free digital and downloadable resources inform and engage students through NASA-inspired, real-world connections.NASA eClips Real World segments (grades 6-8) connect classroom mathematics to 21st Century careers and innovations.  They are designed for students to develop an appreciation for mathematics through real-world problem solving.  

This classroom activity introduces the yearlong topic of phenology and how to use the Weatherguide calendar.

This article features activity books and polar-themed children's literature for use in the elementary classroom.

This article assembles free resources from the Polar Oceans issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine into a unit outline based on the 5E learning cycle framework. Outlines are provided for Grades K-2 and 3-5.

An interview with biologist David Pearson, an author and expert on tiger beetles. Did you know that tiger beetles can run so fast that they go blind and just what would it be like to be hunted by these tiny, but ferocious animals? These are a few of the questions that we learn the answer from our guest biologist.

This article assembles free resources from the Tundra: Life in the Polar Extremes issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine into a unit outline based on the 5E learning cycle framework. Outlines are provided for Grades K-2 and 3-5.

Lesson Length: 1-2 hoursGrade Level: 6-8Students will explore population interaction and impacts on an ecosystem through a breakout box activity grounded in engineering design thinking. Students will learn about how bees are interrelated within an ecosystem by solving clues to save a hive from a breakout box and they will engineer a plan to incorporate bees into a community that addresses concerns, benefits and trade offs for the bees and the humans.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1657263. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

An interview with biologist Gro Amdam, one of the members of the group that brought us the bee genome. Hey just what is a genome and could bees hold the answer to aging? In this show we learn the answers to these questions and why researchers are buzzing around bees.

This formative assessment item uncovers students' prior knowledge about the distribution of penguin species throughout the world. Teacher resources are given, including information about the content, instructional strategies as well as alignment to The National Science Education Standards. Additional resources include information, pictures, and lesson ideas involving penguin facts.